The Empty Air Below
by HarleyMarie
Summary: Selena, Rita's sister's last moments alive before falling to her death after the Choosing Ceremony. One shot.


**Hello all! Here's a little something that just popped into my head while I was reading Divergent for the first time. I haven't finished it yet, but it's really good so far, and I highly recommend it to all of y'all. But anywho, enjoy!**

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**The Empty Air Below**

I sit in the corner of the train car with Rita, my sister. The Choosing Ceremony went relatively as planned, in that both Rita and I decided to stay within our own faction, Dauntless. I know what's coming up next, when all of the new initiates make the first jump out of the train car and onto the rooftop below, where we will then descend into Dauntless headquarters. It's still a ways away, our roof, so I replay the Choosing Ceremony back in my head one more time.

_"Rita Covington", Marcus says. My sister stands up, her face stolid. She doesn't even look at me as she walks up to the front where the four bowls are. I know that she'd never leave me, momma, and our little brother Sam, but sometimes you just never know. Some people transfer, some people don't, you can't cry over it. Faction before blood, right? That may be what we're taught, but it doesn't mean that a transfer can't tear a family apart._

_Rita accepts the knife with an open palm and doesn't even wince as the blade slices her skin. She doesn't bother to cup her hands to catch her now freely dripping blood, and she just lets the crimson drops splatter on the tile floor. She looks at her bleeding palm for a moment, then walks straight over to the Dauntless bowl. With a small grin, she extends her hand and lets her blood drip onto the burning coals, and I can hear the sizzle of each drop that falls. I sigh inwardly with relief. She's staying. I watch her sit with the other Dauntless initiates, and she catches my eye and winks._

_Now it's my turn._

_"Selena Covington," Marcus announces next. I stand up a little too quickly and bump Sam's shoulder with my arm, making him glare at me. I stop for a second, at a complete loss. Sam never looks at me like that..._

_Someone taps me on the arm. I'm suddenly aware that I'm just standing in the middle of the room and that I'm holding up the ceremony, so I hastily walk up to the front. I open my palm for the knife, and I flinch when the edge stings my skin. I waste no time in throwing my hand over the Dauntless coals, and I'm so quick that I don't even bleed onto the floor. After hearing the confirming sizzles, I hurry to sit with my sister and the other initiates. She smiles as I plop down next to her. Must be the stupid grin I've got on my face._

_"Samuel Covington," Marcus says. I try to catch his eye as he makes his way up to the front, but he refuses to look my way. I shrug and watch him as he accepts the knife. He warily eyes the Dauntless bowl, and he hesitates. I frown, not understanding what's going on. Then, ever so slowly, Sam stretches out his hand._

_Over the Erudite bowl._

_Shock. Complete and utter shock. I must be dreaming. This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening. My little brother, betraying us for Erudite? Impossible..._

_But one look at Rita and I know that my eyes aren't lying to me._

_Sam has deserted his faction._

_Sam has deserted us._

"They're jumping off!"

The words jar me from my thoughts of Sam, and I stand to my feet, numb. I mindlessly shuffle to the door of the train car, not paying any attention to the new initiates crowding around me.

Someone says something about not wanting to jump. It just goes in one ear and out the other.

More nervous voices from the transfers. I don't pay any attention to them.

Rita tugs playfully at my long black hair, which I left down this morning. I turn to face her, and she says to me, "See you at the bottom." Her voice is strained, but she smiles anyway in an attempt to hide it. She's as broken as I am about Sam's transfer.

I nod and return a little half smile. "Yeah, sure." She sighs and squeezes my right hand. "It'll be okay." I nod again and try to say something, but we're over the roof now, and two of the initiates just jumped, one of them that Abnegation girl. Not to be outdone by a Stiff, Rita grins and throws herself out of the car and toward the roof below.

I get pushed to the side by someone, I think it's the boy who said he didn't want to jump, just as I try to leap from the car, and I loose my balance. I try to reach back and grab the door, but it's too late. I'm already falling.

I want to scream, but I can't. It's all happening too fast. I'm hurtling, flipping, summersaulting through the air. The train is shrinking. So is the rooftop. The ground grows enormous before me, and one thought flashes through my mind.

_I'm sorry, Rita. _

_I'm sorry you had to loose us both._

I grit my teeth,

I close my eyes,

and I feel my body hit the pavement.

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**Read and review please! It's greatly appreciated. My first one shot, so don't hate, but be constructively critical. Yes, there is a difference. **

**HarleyMarie**


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